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Monday, September 6, 2010

TVO’s The Agenda summer shows

Coming from Eastern Europe, I have never been too impressed with public television. There seemed to always be overblown egos fighting for disproportionately small issues. Even the “world-class” BBC seemed to always get facts wrong at least regarding our country (and possibly many others). In Toronto, however, things seem different.

Though CBC has its share of politicians fighting to restrain it, TVO (TV Ontario) managed to broadcast consistently (truly) world-class programming. They are indeed one of the few reasons left to turn on the TV.

In the past few months, a lot of time was spent discussing China and Mike Harris. I plan to discuss China in an upcoming article. As for Mike Harris, the only parts of his legacy that interest me are the amalgamation of Toronto (an old but still timely topic, considering the upcoming municipal elections) and his educational reforms (which belong to edutarian). Let’s start with the shows that caught my eye:

1. From the China series, Janice Stein discusses Authoritarian Capitalism. This is the equivalent of socialism when it comes to lifting a country quickly from feudalism to a functional market economy, and it is how South Korea, Chile and presumably China are improving their fortunes.

2. Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin (since January 7, 2000). From the little I have read about her and her decisions, she deserves her position.

3. Life after cabinet – a discussion with five Ontario MPs (federal) and MPPs (provincial), three of which represented or still represent(s) my riding. Judy Sgro, former Minister of Immigration is still representing me in at the federal level. She was preceded by Art Eggleton, former Minister of Defense. Both Judy and Art were forced out of the Government by what seemed to be baseless accusations, probably created by rivals within their own party. Monte Kwinter used to represent my riding in the provincial legislature; then the riding boundaries shifted and he is no longer representing me. Interestingly, a while back I tried to meet him but could not, as he claimed “conflict of interest”, stating that he cannot meet his constituents because he is part of the Government and the Ethics Commissioner would not allow it. He referred me to Mario Sergio, who eventually eneded up representing my entire riding.

Finally, as soon as I have some time I’d like to have a look at the debates and the 6 major mayoral candidates in the upcoming elections. The battle seems to be waged between Smitherman and Ford, with Ford registering strong support in suburban neighbourhoods and Smitherman belonging more to the downtown core. They seem to show it even in their personal appearance; Ford is obese and drives an SUV, publicly claiming that he is afraid to walk on the streets (most suburban streets don’t have enough sidewalks anyway) while Smitherman, OTOH, is favoured by the media but he is gay, which unfortunately diqualifies him in the eyes of most voters. I’d like to read a bit more on their platforms, though I don’t know when I’ll find the time. Tomorrow, TVO will host their own debate. Until then, have a look at what went on this far..

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